Healthcare Managers/Executives/Administrators
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this project was to determine the effectiveness of designed and implemented emotional mastery curricula for front-line nursing managers. METHODOLOGY The setting for this project was a community medical center in central New Jersey, where ten front-line nursing managers responsible for inpatient units were recruited to participate. The focus of the curriculum was to build on Mackoff’s (2011) six individual signature elements related to emotional mastery. Participants completed the Leadership Practices Inventory and the Nurse Manager Leadership Learning Needs Assessment, and completed engagement survey results provided by the medical center. The nurse managers were all female, between the ages of 41-60 (0%), and Caucasian. A majority had baccalaureate and master’s degrees (70%), had practiced nursing for over 20 years (70%), been managers for more than five years, and supervised 23-120 RN full-time equivalents.
KEY FINDINGS From the pre to post-test completion of the program, frequency scores on all five leadership practices increased by greater than a one point change. The smallest difference of 1.37 (2.83%) was on Encourage the Heart and the greatest difference of 4.63 (11.15%) occurred for Challenge the Process. It should be noted that in comparison to the Kouzes Posner normative data base the LPI scores of participants in this program ranked in the 25th - 55th percentile pre-to-post curricula. Nurse managers and RN staff had increased Engagement Index scores post-curricula sessions, and the RN’s perceptions of their front-line nurse manager’s effectiveness also increased.